The European spacecraft will be in an ideal position to record signals from the NASA lander to help scientists reconstruct the entry and landing profile to improve our understanding of the Red Planet’s atmosphere.

Confirmation of touchdown by NASA is set for 07:31 CEST.

ESA’s tracking and data recording by Mars Express will be a crucial back-up to NASA's own tracking efforts.

The Agency's ground network of 35 m-diameter deep-space antennas will also support the landing, standing by as ‘hot back-up’ to NASA’s own deep-space network.

European media invited to Darmstadt

Mars Express control room at ESOC

On 6 August, media are invited to ESOC, ESA’s European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany, to follow progress live and be briefed by ESA’s Director for Human Spaceflight and Operations as well as leading ESA Mars science experts.

Media will also be briefed on ESA’s support of current and past NASA missions and on the long-standing operational and scientific cooperation between the two agencies.

Programme: 06:00-09:00 CEST

06:00 Doors open

06:30 Opening by Thomas Reiter, ESA Director for Human Spaceflight and Operations, Head of ESOC

06:35 Europe at Mars: Eight years of Mars Express science by Mark McCaughrean, ESA Head of Research and Science Support